Friday, December 30, 2016

DR CONGO - "The agreement is within reach", announces Mgr. Utembi who mediates between the majority and opposition

"We have reached the end of the tunnel. What remains to be done is to
review the text. The agreement is there, within reach", said His Exc.
Mgr. Marcel Utembi Tapa, Archbishop of Kisangani and President of the
Congolese National Episcopal Conference (CENCO), announcing a possible
agreement between the majority and the opposition to allow the
Democratic Republic of Congo to come out from the political and
institutional crisis which was created with the end of President Joseph
Kabila’s mandate and the failure to hold elections to choose his
successor.

Mgr. Utembi, who is in charge of the mediation between the parties,
claimed in a statement to reporters, sent to Fides, that the agreement
chapters cover: basic commitments for the respect of the Constitution;
electoral process; management of the pre-election period and that of the
election; checking procedure; dispute management process.
"We are proud that the differences will almost totally be ironed out.
The agreement calls for a consensual management with all parties
involved", said Mgr. Utembi. The agreement will be made public on
December 30.
Violence, however, continues to claim victims in different areas of the
DRC, particularly in the territory of Beni, in the eastern province of
North Kivu, where at least 27 people were killed during the Christmas
weekend in and around Eringeti in a series of attacks attributed to
rebels of Ugandan origin of the ADF.